My colleagues and I will not honor your subpoena: Ras Mubarak tells the police

General news for Monday, January 4, 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2021-01-04

Minority Members of Parliament have declared their intention not to comply with a police summons that was delivered to them to appear before the Accra Court of First Instance on Monday, January 4, 2020.

NDC deputies led by minority leader Haruna Iddrisu were charged with two crimes against the state for walking to the Electoral Commission headquarters on December 22, 2020 to present a petition.

They were charged with failing to obtain a permit from the police before embarking on such an event against sections 1, 2 and 9 of the Public Order Act.

The 20 members of parliament were also charged with meeting illegally and behaving in a way that created fear and panic in the Ridge neighborhood.

But in reaction to the problem, Mr. Ras Mubarak, speaking on behalf of the NDC MPs, has said that the police subpoena is a hoax.

For him, it is illegal to execute a criminal subpoena on members of Parliament without the permission of the President.

“In any case, Parliament will meet tomorrow (Monday) at 10 in the morning. And they, more than anything, should know better that when Parliament is in session, unless the speaker explicitly releases a deputy, no one can summon him to any court. This is in accordance with article 117 of the 1992 Constitution. So, this is illegal. They must follow the Constitution. They should contact the Speaker to inform him of what they want to do, the Speaker will give instructions, invite the parties and discuss it before such a summons can be delivered to the deputies. But he doesn’t send these things to MPs and leaks them to the media and hopes that any MP will take it seriously. They are leading us to the abyss, ”he told Joy News.

Mubarak says he and his colleagues will not grant the subpoena until the right thing is done.

“Personally, I will not be in court. Because the right thing has not been done. I understand that that is the position of my colleagues as well. I have not seen any letter from the Spokesman’s office allowing them to serve me as MP, ”he explained.

MPs affected by the subpoena include Deputy Minority Leader James Klutse Avedzi, Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak, Ningo Prampram MP Samuel George, Former Deputy Interior Minister James Agalga, John Jinapor, Rockson Dafiamekpor, Adam Mutawakilu , Ebenezer Terlabi, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, ABA Fuseini, Kofi Buah, Rashid Pelpuo, and Richard Quarshigah.

The rest are Collins Dauda, ​​Yussif Jahja, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Kunbungu MP Ras Mubarak. NDC Deputy Secretary General Peter Otukunor is the other individual charged in connection with the alleged crimes.